From owner-freebsd-chat Fri Oct 30 08:44:00 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id IAA28639 for freebsd-chat-outgoing; Fri, 30 Oct 1998 08:44:00 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from khavrinen.lcs.mit.edu (khavrinen.lcs.mit.edu [18.24.4.193]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id IAA28601 for ; Fri, 30 Oct 1998 08:43:45 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from wollman@khavrinen.lcs.mit.edu) Received: (from wollman@localhost) by khavrinen.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id LAA04371; Fri, 30 Oct 1998 11:43:36 -0500 (EST) (envelope-from wollman) Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1998 11:43:36 -0500 (EST) From: Garrett Wollman Message-Id: <199810301643.LAA04371@khavrinen.lcs.mit.edu> To: "Evan Champion" Cc: chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: cvs commit: src/sys/i386/isa wcd.c In-Reply-To: <003201be0409$e4d602c0$c9252fce@cello.concer.to> References: <003201be0409$e4d602c0$c9252fce@cello.concer.to> Sender: owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org < said: > much worse in terms of error) mega ('M') and giga ('G') prefixes. Because > of this I tend to consider 'k' to be the correct prefix, either in base 2 or > 10. Indeed. As for the base units, since neither bits nor bytes are SI units, I always make a point of writing them out in full (i.e., `kbit/s', `Mbyte', `Gbit') which makes it clear that the prefixes are being used only in a metaphorical sense. (But there's enough tradition behind `KB' and `MB' that I don't run screaming out of the room when I see them, and sometimes will even write them when space is at a premium. Hybrid units are even worse, though. For example, in the new-bus-framework updates to the floppy disk driver, I made a point of updating the bogus `1.44 MB' to the closer-to-correct `1440-KB'. Note also that in English, when a measurement is used as an attributive noun, as in the case of the phrase `1440-KB floppy drive', a hyphen is used between the number and unit, just as in other cases where a noun phrase is used in attributive context.) -GAWollman -- Garrett A. Wollman | O Siem / We are all family / O Siem / We're all the same wollman@lcs.mit.edu | O Siem / The fires of freedom Opinions not those of| Dance in the burning flame MIT, LCS, CRS, or NSA| - Susan Aglukark and Chad Irschick To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message